Inflammatory pseudotumor in a cat with cutaneous mycobacteriosis.
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A 5-year-old, castrated male, domestic Shorthair Cat had an ulcerated mass with fistulous tracts on the left hind paw. Homogeneous tan tissue diffusely infiltrated the dermis and subcutis of the paw and extended proximally so that, short of amputation, complete excision was not feasible. Biopsy specimens consisted of granulation tissue with marked proliferation of spindle cells. Neutrophils and histiocytic cells were scattered among the spindle cells. The histiocytic cells had abundant foamy or vacuolated cytoplasm, but features of granulomatous inflammation, such as epithelioid macrophages or granuloma formation, were not observed. The initial impression was inflammatory granulation tissue, but the degree of fibroplasia prompted inclusion of fibrosarcoma in the differential diagnosis. Cutaneous mycobacteriosis was diagnosed when numerous acid-fast bacteria were identified with Kinyoun's stain; Mycobacterium avium was subsequently cultured. The cat was euthanatized because of lack of response to enrofloxacin therapy. At necropsy, lesions were localized to the hind limb. Not only is mycobacteriosis an uncommon cause of cutaneous masses in cats, but this case was unusual because of the lack of granuloma formation and the similarity of the mass to a spindle cell tumor. (+info)
Lymphangiosarcomas in cats: a retrospective study of 12 cases.
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Clinical, macroscopic, and histologic features of 12 lymphangiosarcomas in cats are described. Nine tumors were located in the subcutaneous tissue at the caudoventral abdominal wall (eight cats) or in the neck (one cat). The remaining three cats had lymphangiosarcomas around the cranial mesenteric artery (two cats) or precardial in the mediastinum (one cat). Macroscopically, the tumors were noncircumscribed, white, edematous, and intermixed with fat tissue. Histologic features varied from cleft-forming and cavernous growth to papilliform and solid patterns. Follow-up data were available for seven cats with subcutaneous lymphangiosarcomas. All these cats died or were euthanatized within 6 months after surgery because of poor wound healing, local recurrence, or distant metastases. The cats with abdominal or thoracic masses were either euthanatized at surgery or within 6 months after the first surgery because of recurrent chylothorax, chyloperitoneum, or distant metastases. (+info)
Comparison of PCR, virus isolation, and indirect fluorescent antibody staining in the detection of naturally occurring feline herpesvirus infections.
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Cats with clinical signs suggestive of ocular infection with feline herpesvirus type 1 (FHV 1) and cats without such signs were assayed by 3 methods to detect FHV. Comparison of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), virus isolation, and indirect fluorescent antibody staining techniques for the detection of FHV demonstrated higher sensitivity of PCR in detecting this common infectious agent of cats. Compared with PCR, sensitivity and specificity for virus isolation was 49% and 100%, respectively, and those of indirect immunofluorescence were 29% and 96%, respectively. FHV was detected in 13.7% of client-owned cats with conjunctivitis and in 31% of shelter cats with no ocular signs. The use of FHV PCR as a diagnostic test for FHV-associated disease is limited because of the occurrence of healthy carriers. (+info)
The lumbosacral dorsal rami of the cat.
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The lumbosacral dorsal rami of the cat were studied by gross dissection. The L1-6 dorsal rami form three discrete branches - lateral, intermediate and medial. The lateral branches supply the iliocostalis lumborum and become cutaneous over the back. The intermediate branches ramify in the longissimus lumborum, and are separated from the lateral branches by the lumbar intermuscular septum. The medial branches supply the multifidus and have a constant branch - the nerve to intertransversarii mediales. The L7 dorsal ramus forms only medial and intermediate branches. The S1 and S2 dorsal rami form three branches, the middle of which form the ascending sacral trunk and accessory ascending sacral trunk. The ascending sacral trunk is derived from S1 and S2, the accessory ascending sacral trunk from S2. Both nerves are the exclusive nerve supply of lumbococcygeus. (+info)
Afferent sympathetic nerve fibres with aortic endings.
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1. We recorded the electrical impulse activity of thirty-five single afferent fibres with aortic endings isolated from the third to the sixth left thoracic sympathetic rami communicantes of anaesthetized cats. The endings of each fibre were localized by mechanical probing of the opened aorta at the end of each experiment. 2. Twenty-four fibres had a single aortic receptive field. Eleven fibres had several and distinct receptive fields (from two to four): they were usually located in nearby aortic areas or, in addition, in other proximal portions of the arterial tree or in the adjacent pleura and connective tissue. 3. Twenty-nine fibres had conduction velocities ranging between 5 and 27 m/sec (Group Adelta), while six fibres had conduction velocities between 0-2 and 1-2m/sec (Group C). 4. The spontaneous impulse activity was in phase with the aortic pressure pulse and consisted of not more than one impulse per pressure pulse. It was increased during increases in aortic pressure and, conversely, decreased during decreases in aortic pressure. In vivo and post mortem studies showed that these mechanoreceptors had an impulse activity which rapidly adapted during sustained stimuli. They thus seem to signal pulsatile aortic stretch. 5. These aortic sympathetic afferents are likely to be part of a nervous pathway through which pressor reflexes, exhibiting positive feed-back characteristics, can elicited. (+info)
Short-term synchronization of intercostal motoneurone activity.
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1. The hypothesis is advanced that the joint occurrence of unitary excitatory post-synaptic potentials e.p.s.p.s) evoked in motoneurones by branches of common stem pre-synaptic fibres causes short-term synchronization of their discharge during the rising phases of the unitary e.p.s.p.s. 2. This hypothesis was tested using the pre- and post-stimulus time (PPST) histogram to detect synchronized firing among groups of intercostal motoneurones discharging in response to their natural synaptic drives. 3. Motor nerve action potentials were recorded monophasically from nerve filaments of the external intercostal muscles of anaesthetized, paralysed cats maintained on artificial ventilation. 4. Computer methods were used to measure peak spike amplitude, spike amplitude, spike interval and filament identification for simultaneous recordings from four filaments. The spike amplitude histograms were derived for each filament and groups of spikes were selected for analysis. 5. With spikes of one group designated as 'stimuli' (occurring at zero time) and those of a second as 'response' the PPST histogram was computed with different time bin widths. 6. With bin widths of 100 and 10 msec the central respiratory periodicity was apparent in the PPST histogram. With 1.0 msec bins the PPST histogram showed a narrow central peak extending to +/- 3.0 msec at its base. This 'short-term synchronization' supports the hypothesis of joint firing due to common presynaptic connectivity. 7. It was shown that detection of short-term synchronization was critically dependent on a sufficient quantity of data but that provided a simple criterion of adequate counts per bin in the PPST histogram was met, short-term synchronization could be detected between intercostal motoneurones of the same and adjacent segments. (+info)
Blockade of ATP-sensitive potassium channels in cerebral arterioles inhibits vasoconstriction from hypocapnic alkalosis in cats.
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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Recent studies have shown that the cerebral arteriolar dilation from hypercapnic acidosis is blocked by agents which inhibit KATP channels. These findings suggested that this response is due to opening of KATP channels. Because the repose to CO2 is a continuum, with hypercapnic acidosis causing vasodilation and hypocapnic alkalosis causing vasoconstriction, it would be expected that the response to hypocapnic alkalosis would be due to closing of KATP channels. There are no studies of the effect of inhibition of KATP channels on the response to hypocapnic alkalosis. METHODS: We investigated the effect of 3 agents that in earlier studies were found to inhibit KATP channels--NG-nitro-L-arginine, hydroxylysine, and glyburide--on the cerebral arteriolar constriction caused by graded hypocapnia induced by hyperventilation in anesthetized cats equipped with cranial windows. RESULTS: Hypocapnic alkalosis caused dose-dependent vasoconstriction that was inhibited completely by each of the 3 inhibitors of KATP channels. The blockade induced by these agents was eliminated in the presence of topical L-lysine (5 micromol/L). CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that agents which inhibit ATP-sensitive potassium channels in cerebral arterioles inhibit the vasoconstriction from hypocapnic alkalosis. These and earlier results showing that inhibition of KATP channels inhibited dilation from hypercapnic acidosis demonstrate that the response to CO2 in cerebral arterioles is mediated by the opening and closing of KATP channels. (+info)
Electrophysiological recording in primary visual cortex (VI) was performed both prior to and in the hours immediately following the creation of a discrete retinal lesion in one eye with an argon laser. Lesion projection zones (LPZs; 21-64 mm2) were defined in the visual cortex by mapping the extent of the lesion onto the topographic representation in cortex. There was no effect on neuronal responses to the unlesioned eye or on its topographic representation. However, within hours of producing the retinal lesion, receptive fields obtained from stimulation of the lesioned eye were displaced onto areas surrounding the scotoma and were enlarged compared with the corresponding field obtained through the normal eye. The proportion of such responsive recording sites increased during the experiment such that 8-11 hours post-lesion, 56% of recording sites displayed neurons responsive to the lesioned eye. This is an equivalent proportion to that previously reported with long-term recovery (three weeks to three months). Responsive neurons were evident as far as 2.5 mm inside the border of the LPZ. The reorganization of the lesioned eye representation produced binocular disparities as great as 15 degrees, suggesting interactions between sites in VI up to 5.5 mm apart. (+info)